The new water park will be a dynamic area, with trees, spilling water, a spa beach, and tide pools.

Sustainability is at the core of the Lens concept. In it, part of the structure from the existing pier will be used as the foundation for a new aquatic reef. Sea grass and trays of oyster habitat will be suspended between underwater caissons, creating an ecosystem where create mollusks, fish, turtles, and manatees can thrive. Maltzan estimates that the 2.5 acres of oyster habitat that the plan calls for will be able to clean as much as 20 million gallons of sea water per day. Additionally, the Lens will incorporate a series of micro wind turbines into the canopy of the pier, and an array of solar panels will be positioned on the northwest edge of the bowl. The plan also calls for a rainwater collection system.

Maltzan’s Lens doesn’t start and stop at the shoreline; where the pier meets the shore, another complementary loop will extend towards the city’s downtown. Nor does it stop at the water — a pathway will extend into the intertidal zone, disappearing at high tide into the water. At low tide, the Intertidal Pathway will allow visitors to explore the tide pools. The ambitious proposal also calls for a “flotilla” of man-made islands that could be used for bathing; other islands that would feature water-cleansing planted biomes; and an “energy island” with pools ringed by wind turbines that would pump filtered water into their center.

Twenty-seven firms entered into the competition to redesign the iconic pier, and in recent months the list was cut down to nine, and then three. The runners-up were Bjarke Ingels Group, which proposed to build a giant wave-shaped structure, and West 8, which pitched a round structure surrounded by a large sandbar. Construction of the Lens is expected to take one year, according to the Associated Press.